Second Chances
by deepfriedbrain
Summary: She's mad but she's magic. When Ino was given another shot to prove to herself that she was not a failure what would she do differently? but little did she know second chances always come with a price. [LevixIno].


**Hey Guys! :D this is my first even story so please be nice!**

**Disclaimer: I only own a few characters, nothing more most of the other amazing characters belong to the creators of these amazing shows!**

**Enjoy!**

Shortly after the untimely death of her Sensei, Asuma Sarutobi, her 3-man cell had been disbanded. Her former team members moved on in their ranks and were so caught up with their clan duties, the famous Ino-Shika-Cho formation had vanished faster than the sake supply in Tsunade's bottom draw.

But that isn't what got to her, when the dust had cleared from the catastrophic collision with the akatsuki, the cold hard reality that she had been left behind by the entire rookie nine hit her, and it hit her hard.

That was the day that changed her, she no longer wished to live as the boy crazed, weakling of the rookie nine. That was the day she truly became, Ino Yamanaka.

The cloaked ANBU guard sighed; this patrol shift had been particularly long all because they needed her to pick up the extra shift from the previous guard who had conveniently fallen sick. Sighing the guard summoned up more chakra and leaped onto the higher branches of the dense forest, the entire forest surrounding Konoha was densely packed with trees and was roaming with dangerous creatures that were ready to gobble up anything that crossed their paths.

The ANBU check-post was twenty metres ahead and was the last stop of the patrol, 12 hours of solid chakra enhanced tree hopping left even the toughest of shinobi tired and cranky, and lucky for this one, three hops and it was time to go home and take a well earned snooze.

"Thanks Neko, I'll take it from here", An ANBU guard whizzed past nodding his masked head, signalling the beginning his patrol shift. The soft thud of landing on the tree top guard post was followed with the sound of a deep exhalation. 'Neko' had previously just returned to the village from a weeklong retrieval mission when the news of a double shift of patrol was handed out at the gates.

What did it matter, it wasn't like there was anyone waiting back at the apartment, or even any parties or anything that would have been missed. It was something to do to prevent the brain rotting from boredom, and the more successful the missions and patrols she completed, the quicker Neko would be promoted to the role of Captain, and in the shinobi profession, that's all that ever mattered.

"Neh, Neko-san, you must be exhausted, why don't you go and relax, word on the street is that Team Kakashi successfully returned from an S-Rank mission, and everyone's celebrating at the Rusty Kunai!" Hiro, the check point guard was a Chuunin class ninja, who knew the entire village gossip, even though he did nothing all day but sit in the tree house, she had always thought he would have been better off at intelligence, but ironically that was the one thing he lacked.

The thought of even walking home make her muscled cry, shaking her head at the thought of even socialising with a bunch of rowdy shinobi was the last thing she needed this evening, "Maa, we'll see, all I feel like doing is going to bed right now, Ja Ne Hiro-san, see you around". With the slightest nod of her head, Neko descended down the check-post and started walking to the edge of the forest, luckily the sun had just started to set, which meant she could go home without being spotted.

The gate of Konoha were still open, their majestic arms open and welcoming to anyone who even made it through the densely packed surrounding, almost mocking the fact that most people who wish to do harm to the hidden village were probably killed by something on the way here. After a brief chat with the ever-flirtatious gate guards, Neko took to the roofs, her black cloak fluttering with every leap and her long blonde hair dancing under the dull rays of the setting sun.

Her apartment was located in the heart of shinobi district, she had opted not to live in ANBU quarters, solely to minimise the chances of bumping into any familiar faces and so far her decision had been a wise one. He flat was filled with nameless shinobi, most of whom she had never seen or heard of before; she was polite but never friendly. She had never entertained anyone in her modest flat, minus her team not even her own family or previous gennin team, and that was how she was going to keep it for now.

Jumping onto her tiny balcony, she turned her head into the direction of the Rusty Kunai, it was the local shinobi watering hole, and became somewhat an attraction for the rookie nine and had become regular visitors after defeating the war with Pein and the Akatsuki, and met up whenever they could to celebrate or drown their sorrows. But she never went, the first few times they had try to convince her to come, but then they had become so warped up in their own lives that it became normal that she wasn't there, to a point where they probably forgot that she was even a part of the rookie nine to begin with.

Walking into her apartment to find it cold and lifeless made her smile, funny as that had sound, she like the fact that her life now was stable, nothing she did not wanted changed would change and everything was in her control.

Stripping out of her clothes she stood in the middle of her apartment completely naked, picking up her discarded clothes she chucked them into the pile of washing to be done and strolled to her fridge. '_God knows what could be growing in here, I knew I should have chucked out the milk before I left' _she thought to herself. Opening the door, she found a plastic bag with some apples and a takeout from the local noodle bar with a small note on top:

_Neko-chan _

_Heard you were on double guard duty! Ouch!_

_We've handed in the main mission report, Tsunade-sama said you could hand it yours tomorrow._

_Enjoy the apples after all they do keep the doctors away!_

_Touya_

Touya Yamada was one of her ANBU squad members he reminded her so much of Sasuke physically, tall with a fantastically toned body and smouldering eyes that would bring the coldest of females to their knees, but he had been both blessed and cursed with the personalities of Rock Lee and Naruto, making him somewhat less attractive and more approachable. Neko had come to see him as a best friend, he was always there for her and knew of everything she needed before she even realised herself. At first she thought it was because he was head over heels in love with her, but she came to understand that he had lost his entire family in the Pein invasion including his 3 man cell and clinged onto any person fearing of never getting attached again.

When Ino had joined the ANBU after going through the rigorous selection process, she was absolutely delighted to have been put forward for the field team, although she herself thought that her areas of expertise was in Torture and Investigation, the assessors had thought she would be better off as a field agent, the ability to heal as well as incapacitate enemies through mind control, made her a valuable asset in any ANBU squad. The other members of her team were Daichi Nakamura, a sensor type and Ryuu Tsukada, their cell captain and single handily the most selfless person she knew.

She smiled and stuck the note on the fridge door, her team had become her second family since she had left home, caring for her needs when she neglected to do so and looking after her after particularly horrifying missions. Taking a swift bite out of the apple, she walked back to her bed and threw herself unceremoniously onto her purple sheets, clad in nothing but her personality Ino Yamanaka chucked the core of the half finished apple out the open window and closed her eyes, swiftly falling into a deep slumber listening to the lullaby of drunken ninjas.

"This has become a regular habit of hers now hasn't it," The sound of a deep voice filled with exasperation, resounded in Ino's ears.

Who the fuck was in her apartment at this time? She opened her eyes slowly fighting the struggle to keep them shut and drift back into the peaceful slumber. All she remembered was that she came home and went to bed tired from her patrol shift. The sight of three people surrounding her bed made her jolt out and straight into offensive mode.

"Maa maa Ino-chan, its only us, we came to get you, we've been summoned to see the Hokage" He vision had finally cleared up, the destroyers of slumber had been no one but her beloved ANBU squad, who would definitely be paying for their behaviour later on. Her Taichou perched himself on the frame of her single bed, his eyes closed avoiding all eye contact with her. "But Ino-chan we would appreciate it if you'd put some clothes on".

Ino's eyes widened and she looked down to find that she had jumped out of bed completely naked and equally unaware of her lack of clothing. She pushed past her laughing teammates and ran into her bathroom wishing to just get swallowed up by a sea monster rising from the toilets. She had done this several times before and each time the two of them would get pummelled to the ground by her in their training sessions. Ino had to change the locks, these naked sightings were becoming to regular for comfort, oh well at least they haven't tried to take advantage of her yet. Shaking the thoughts out of her, Ino set about to getting ready, it would be a matter of minutes before her team would start thumping down the bathroom door.

She washed herself down quickly, brushed her teeth and threw on a clean pair of Jounin trousers and a tight black tank top, not feeling the need to make herself look too presentable for a simple mission submission, Ino strolled out of the bathroom twenty minutes later to find her team eating through the leftovers they had brought for her just the day before. Shaking her head, she took the last piece of friend fish and eat it without even batting an eye, sticking her tongue out at her visibly annoyed team mates, Ino pulled out and apple from the fridge and nodded at her Taichou confirming that she was ready to leave.

An apple and a whole lot of leave later the squad had shushin-ed into the foyer of the Hokage's building, chatting animatedly amongst themselves, they walked up the three flights of stairs to the Hokage's office.

"Ryuu-sempai, why are we all here? Is it anything important?" The trio turned to look at Ino, who was lagging behind, still visibly tired from her patrol shift.

"Apparently, Tsunade-sama wanted to see us urgently for another mission, this time a long-term one" Touya's eyes sparkled with excitement, what is it with boys and missions, she will never know.

"Ino-pig? Who would have thought you would have been here? Didn't even think you were still on active duty?" Ino's eyes widened with surprise, controlling her rising anger, she turned around to face Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi staring at her like she was a show pony at the races.

"Haruno-san, I'd much prefer it if you would address me properly, and if you don't mind I have to leave, we have been urgently summoned by the Hokage" Ino scowled in her direction, mentally high fiving herself for keeping cool, she felt a strong hand on her shoulder turning her around, Ryuu-Taichou had sensed the tension and saw the shocked faces of Konoha's prized team Kakashi, and pulled her away before anyone got hurt. Quickly glancing back in their direction, Ino saw the look of hurt flash across Sakura's face before the office door slammed.

Stressed was the best word to always describe Tsunade, as a medic she was excellent and even more so as a leader, but when it came to paper work or paying back debts, Tsunade needed help and a lot of it when they were combined.

During her years as a vagabond, travelling the world and accumulating debts that would make the Senju clan sink further in their graves, Tsunade came across a settlement recovering from what she thought was a civil war. Their language, lifestyle everything had been different, nothing was even remotely similar to the lifestyles of the five great nations. The place had been ravaged with war and famine and even political corruption and it was all so deep rooted that they refused to even let Tsunade or Shizune into the city walls.

There was a reason, and the reason became very apparent one day when on a normal hunting trip, Tsunade and her accomplice had been attacked by the single most vile thing to have ever graced this planet or any other before it. Some humanoid creature that looked like the disfigured love child of a troll and a giant, never will Tsunade Senju forget the day when she was chased by the rotten smelling mutant, it didn't take long for her sake induced state of shock to disappear and legendary super strength to kick in an turn the hoard of monsters chasing her into a pile of rubble.

She was revelled, as both the saviour and as a God, they wanted her to lead them, praising her and her strength and intelligence and treated her like a hero for the time she spent within their walls. She knew that part of her life would never make it into the history books, simply as everyone refused to even consider the fact that there was civilisation that far away from the ninja countries, which had lived undetected for many years. Tsunade knew, as soon as she saw the seal on the letter, she knew it was time for the debt to be paid, their hospitality and home was hers for a large portion of her life and as the leader of the greatest shinobi nations it was her turn to provide them with the support to defend their walls.

The letter disturbed her, the tough times were back the long years of living in peace within the walls had changed, their home was being threatened and this made her blood boil, no one was going to hurt her people being it shinobi or titan.

Ino Yamanaka- The skill to manipulate the minds of others and delve in the secrets buried within each crevice of the brain, her hand to hand combat was highly praised and she had grown to become an excellent medical ninja, under the captaincy of Ryuu Tsukada.

Touya Yamada- One of the finest genjutsu users to have joined the ANBU, his ability to engage in physical combat whilst casting extremely complicated genjutsu set him aside from his peers during the selection process.

Daichi Nakamura- Has been rumoured to possess speed rivalling Konoha no Kiiroi Senko, a capable and intelligent individual whose name had been popping into the international bingo books since the war with Pein.

Ryuu Tsukada- His skills lie in the manipulation and organisation of a team, an exceptionally skilled shinobi, possessing the skill to react magnificently under pressure and conquer even the most sour of situations.

They would be her team Tsunade knew that each individual possessed skills that were crucial in battling the titans. What was even more essential was that they were all alone, they may have family and relatives by name, but the way these four shinobi conducted themselves showed that their only true loyalty lied in their mission and too each other. Too the world Team Kakashi was the best they had the best track record on paper, but out on the field Team Ryuu stood far above them all their dedication and attachment bound them closer than any previous Ino-Shika-Cho formation or any clans for the matter. And that was the reason why Tsunade would send them away, far away to the lands not discovered by the great allied nations, it took herself 6 months to find this civilisation and even longer to get let in, but they were going there for a different purpose, to defend the city that had once defended her from a life of isolation and despair.

Tsunade didn't know how they were going to do it, or even how long it would take, but she knew that they would sure as hell kick ass whilst they were there.

**Hope you guys enjoyed! This was the brainchild of a late night caffeine fuelled revision session. Please be nice! And 1 review=1 cookie! Cookies for us all! *****rolls around in cookies*****.**

**Hahaha! Anyways major loves to anyone who reads this! You are the best!**

**Deepfriedbrain (mmmmmmmmm ^.^)**


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